In Texas, if you’re renting an apartment, townhouse, or small home, you need affordable electricity that fits your lifestyle, budget, and lease term. That’s why it’s smart to shop for an electricity plan designed especially with renters in mind. Apartment electricity plans have better prices at lower electricity usage levels and shorter available contract lengths so that you can stay flexible and stay in budget.
Of FirstEnergy’s two plans, “Residential Fixed Price” (July 2019) and “Residential Fixed Price” (July 2020), the longer term contract comes with a reduced rate, per usual. If you’re hesitant to enter into a lengthy commitment because you’re planning to move within the next year or two, it’s nice to know that FirstEnergy builds a moving loophole into its cancellation policy. If you’re changing addresses and FirstEnergy does not service your new neighborhood, it doesn’t levy a cancellation fee. Opting out for any other reason comes with a $50 fee, cheaper than any other flat-rate cancellation fee we’ve seen. In fact, it might still be cheaper to go with the longer contract if you aren’t sure when you’ll move, or whether you can take your FirstEnergy service with you.

Variable – This type of rate plan would be ideal to renters and people who don’t want to sign long-term Wichita Falls electricity contracts. Variable-rate supply plans skip those long contract terms and usually do not have a cancellation fee. With this type of plan, you’d have a rate per kWh that could vary month to month. This means that the rate you pay each month could be different than the last. While you can possibly take advantage of market price lows, you’d run the risk of paying high market price rates too.

CenterPoint Intelligent Energy Solutions LLC, IES, which manages TrueCost, is not the same legal entity as CenterPoint Energy Resources Corp. (CERC) or CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC (CEHE), nor is IES regulated by the Railroad Commission of Texas or the Public Utility Commission of Texas. You do not have to buy products or services from IES in order to continue to receive quality regulated services from CERC or CEHE.

Customers can find deals in competitive electricity markets if they take the time and effort to look at web sites such as powertochoose.org, the official comparison shopping site of the Public Utility Commission. The study cited a PUC survey of retail electricity offerings in Houston that showed nine deals in March that were lower than the regulated price of electricity in San Antonio.

If you’re looking for a new electricity deal, you’re not alone: 319,000 electricity customers switched energy supplier during January 2018, according to OFGEM*. Shopping around for the best electricity deal is simpler than you might think – but there are bound to be a few questions. Here’s everything you ever wanted to know about comparing electricity deals.